@fleetmaster I find your comments and opinions offensive, outdated and to a degree pretty ignorant. 

A poor state of mental health is not an ‘excuse’.  The fact is management simply don’t care, or refuse to do anything to protect their workforce from abusive punters, unsafe working conditions, and work their staff to the minute of the law in terms of breaks.  They knowingly send staff frequently into situations of conflict by pulling services and forcing other services to run excessively late, work minimal break and then sent out late again to soak up more abuse by passengers and other feral members of the public almost every shift.

Anyone can suffer from poor mental health at any point in their life whether they’re classed as a professional or not, and everyone is different in the way they view, understand, and handle it.  Some people recognise the signs, others have no clue until they’ve reached or gone beyond breaking point.  There is a telephone helpline provided, but the company is unwilling to stand up for staff that are constantly abused simply saying ‘there’s nothing we can do’.

There is no psychometric test or other major screening in the process to become a bus driver, eyesight, diabetes, heart conditions and hypertension are the only real things that are singled out.  

As long as the company has a bum in the seat on the road they quite honestly couldn’t give two hoots about the welfare of the driver unless the worst happens and then they’re looking for anyone other than themselves to blame.  You might not think any of this happens, but I can assure you it most definately does.  You wonder why there is a problem recruiting and retaining bus drivers? 

 I can assure you it’s rarely that people are unable to drive a bus (although there are some knackers out there), it’s that they are unsupported and set up to fail by the company.  Clearly you’re not a union supporter, but if there wasn’t one in the company they would be given carte Blanche to do even less than they already do.